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The Medieval Church · c. 1160–1165
Spiritual Friendship
De Spiritali Amicitia
Aelred of Rievaulx · 1110–1167
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What it is
A dialogue rewriting Cicero on friendship for the cloister, arguing that a friend is the guardian of love, and that God is friendship.
Why it lasted
The most humane book of the twelfth century, and the fullest Christian defence of particular friendship against the suspicion that a monk should love all equally.
Where to read it
Public domain and free to read in full, though not held here. The archives below have it.
These open a search on each archive rather than a direct link, which is the honest way to point at an edition nobody here has checked line by line.
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